The Sanctuary city bill.

The Sanctuary city bill.

The sanctuary bill was an attempt of Governor Perry to follow up in one of his campaign promises: Crack down on the illegal immigrant issue. Arnold Garcia Jr wrote an interesting piece in the statesman(Arnold Garcia Jr., Commentary, Austin American Statesman, July 02^nd 2011, “The gang that couldn't deal straight”). First of all, I understand that the Statesman is an Austinite newspaper, which major focus is the capital and Travis county. Nevertheless, Garcia needs to open up his mind when criticizing a bill that aims the whole state of Texas. Garcia, in an almost personal tone, I shall say, discuss this bill without putting aside the fact he is Latino. In other words, I find his opinion bias. Regardless, Garcia's coverage of the facts is precise and detailed.

Garcia mentions that Travis County has the rap for being a sanctuary city (safe-haven)for illegal immigrants but he forgets that Travis county is not the only one. The list of sanctuary cities in Texas is long, including cities like Houston, Ft. Worth and Dallas(Sanctuary Cities information resource website/Texas Statistics, July 14th 2011).

Garcia is right on the money when he says that the bill is empty, at least regarding to Travis county - although I have questions about the effectiveness of law enforcement in cities like Laredo or Denton, TX. Sheriff Greg Hamilton is well recognized by his cooperation regarding illegal immigrants with the federal government, responsible for their deportation.

Garcia, when explaining why the bill was killed twice, steps back to the right ton. Garcia(and I) find impressive that even with support from both the governor and Lieutenant governor and majority on both houses, this bill hit the wall twice. And do you know why? Lobbying mobilized by big business that felt threated by the bill, since a reduction in illegal immigrants it is also a reduction in super-cheap labor. The practice of lobbying by interest groups is important and should be used as way to inform our representatives about both sides of the issues. Being that said, the population of Texas need to be vigilante and see if their representatives are using common sense when talking to the lobbyists.

Garcia should expand his horizons and look beyond his backyard when analyzing a bill with statewide impact.